| Jul-10-08 | | MichAdams: <For example, in my very first years in the international arena I said to myself, 'You'd better be on your own. You'd better not talk much with anyone else, it might bother you'. This is because of my lunch with Fischer and Benko during the Interzonal in Stockholm. I don't blame them, but I made a stupid mistake. The three of us had lunch together before the last round, in which I was to play Aaron from India. During the meal they were joking and said things like, 'Lajos, you'd better be careful. This guy is very dangerous. You may very well lose this game.' Psychologically this shocked me a bit and then I really lost the game. Benko is still unhappy when I mention this (laughs). Of course, it wasn't their fault. But people like to play with words and sometimes they don't realize how heavily these words affect you psychologically.> -- Portisch interview, NIC, 1990. |
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| Jul-10-08 | | MichAdams: <Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.> |
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| Oct-04-12 | | wordfunph: "I will never understand how I got into a losing position. No, I did not underestimate my opponent. I spent a long time thinking, but..." - GM Lajos Portisch |
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Feb-18-14
 | | offramp: March 4th 1962.
Indian IM Manuel Aaron finished last in the Stockholm Interzonal (1962). He scored 4/22 (+2 -16 =4), and this is one of his wins. The other man he beat was Wolfgang Uhlmann. Clearly Aaron was no fool! Portisch needed to win this game in order to reach 13.5 points and thereby take part in the play-off match which was subsequently played among Svetozar Gligoric, Pal Benko and Leonid Stein. Aaron plays the opening well. In this position 
click for larger view
...he plays 28.Rh2.
The idea of this is obvious. He wants to double rooks on the h-file and reach a position something like this: 
click for larger viewPortisch devises his own plan. His idea is to play 28... Nh7, which lets the queen move backwards: ...Qd8. Then ...Ng5 attacking the white queen, then ...Qb6 & ...Rh8, to end up with a position something like this:
click for larger viewHe plays 29...Qd8 and is stunned by the thunderbolt 30.Nf5+!! 
click for larger view
Portisch struggles on but he has to lose his queen and the play-off place! 29...Qd8? interfered with his rooks; he should have played 29...Qe7=. |
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Feb-18-14
| | offramp: 30.Nf5+!!
Aaron went in unto Portisch: and cast down his rod before Portisch, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. |
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Feb-18-14
 | | perfidious: Twice that year Aaron did cast that rod before Portisch; and it did become a serpent. Portisch vs M Aaron, 1962 |
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Feb-19-14
| | perfidious: The snippet from the NIC interview cited by <MichAdams> is most revealing, hinting at a psychological weakness in Portisch's makeup. A stronger character would surely have carefully weighed the words of his luncheon companions, rather than according them an outsize importance as he evidently did. Hard to imagine Korchnoi responding in similar fashion. |
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Jun-28-21
 | | FSR: In the book "How to Play the Opening in Chess," Portisch mentions that he had been successful with this variation for Black in the g3 King's Indian, but the trauma of his loss in this game made him give up the line. |
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Jun-28-21
| | FSR: Wow. Aaron and Portisch played only twice. Both games were in 1962 and featured the g3 variation of the King's Indian. See also Portisch vs M Aaron, 1962. Despite being a huge underdog, Aaron twice smashed Portisch with a sacrificial attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa1... |
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| Jun-21-23 | | YoungEd: 18. Ra2 seemed odd to me, but 28. Rh2 is a cool-looking move! |
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Kibitzing
sac: 30.Nf5+
icon.